Windshield Repair Forum

I made a large mistake.

A customer came in with an RV to have both panes of the windshield treated--- and had previously coated the windshield with another product that proved quite hard to remove.

Our usual method of hand-scrubbing it with a back-handled pad did not work.

Using a Makita drill (900 rpm) with a scotchbrite pad and a mild stripping compound, I went ahead and buffed the both passenger and driver panes. It did the trick, and the coating eventually came off. I then applied our treatment as usual.

After we pulled it out of the garage, I then beheld what the poor lighting inside had failed to reveal: Both panes of the windshield had become covered in scratching and haze from the Makita & scotchbrite. It was quite bad in several places, and plenty of glare ensued.

I now have two months before the customer will be picking up the RV, and am faced with the option to repair or replace ($1000.00+).

The tools I have at my disposal are:

[indent]- A buffing pad purchased from Delta Kits
- Cerium Oxide
- A Makita electric buffer (1500-2800 rpm)[/indent]

Is anyone here familiar with Delta Kits' polishing pad and what kind of time will be necessary to polish this thing out?

I've already scratched up some pratice glass and gone 15 minutes on it with the buffer & compound. Little to no results. Any tips?

Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks!

Can you feel the scratches with your fingernail?

Not each scratch individually. The surface of the scratched areas feel rough.

First and formost why would you use a scotch-brite pad on glass? and then combine it with a Makita drill? sorry looks like you bought a windshield. Coatings like rain ex etc come of with alcohol and water you might have to use it several times but sure better than tryin to scratch it off. you use abrasives on glass its gonna show

Thank you for the reply, GlassStarz

GlassStarz wrote:First and formost why would you use a scotch-brite pad on glass?

The pads we are using aren't the sort you likely have in mind. Ours are soft, almost like something you'd use to scrub dishes with:



I have personally used such pads to clean over 100 windshields by hand in combination with the compound--- and have never seen so much as a scuff from either one.

However, the circular pad handed down from the previous department was a different brand, and of a slightly different texture than our handled ones. It was my fault for not testing it beforehand.

Coatings like rain ex etc come of with alcohol and water you might have to use it several times

Really!!--

I will definitely add that to my bag of tricks!

Thanks again, bud.

If it feels rough, you're probably not going to get them out with our products without distortion. I would recommend contacting a commercial glass company and asking them if they do scratch removal. There are expensive machines to remove scratches that say they can remove deep scratches without distortion. Never used one, so i'm a bit skeptical, but if you can get a trained technician that does it for a living, that's probably your best bet.

3m has a hook-it system with a 3" foam pad attached to a cordless drill that would be less likely to scratch glass i use it for multiple apllications

Sgailey , Where are you located ? There's a few of us here that do scratch removal , maybe someone here can help you out.

Delta Kits wrote:[size=0]If it feels rough, you're probably not going to get them out with our products without distortion. I would recommend contacting a commercial glass company and asking them if they do scratch removal. There are expensive machines to remove scratches that say they can remove deep scratches without distortion. Never used one, so i'm a bit skeptical, but if you can get a trained technician that does it for a living, that's probably your best bet.[/size]

Hmm... that sounds a bit like the one Glass-Weld offers for around 1500 USD.

I'm located in Anchorage, AK, sunshine wr.

I appreciate all of the feedback, guys!

Sorry man, I can't help I'm in GA. , but I have done those type of scratches sucessfully with the GW system. Also if you're trying to remove silicone based products try Polycracker.